GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

My grandpa was easy-going and more self-effacing than braggard. Except when he indulged in the effects of the shaman's potion. Then grandpa's male charm was pure macho mojo.
---

My other grandpa also enjoyed a similar charm enhancer. It was no aphrodisiac though, it was simply the culinary mojo my other grandma cooked up for him. And no, these are not cojones, though may be a delicacy.


---

Somehow "mojo" makes me think of "l'argot de Paris". Could it be Apache slang too?

[voralfred]

Pitje le Mojo, not an , but an authentic Mojave Amerindian (with roots from Brussels) tried thrice to exert his mojo on a prospective mo(jo)ther for his future children by offering her his favorite dish: cojones with mojonnaise. The first two found the meal too offensively macho, and fled. But, !

[Algot Runeman]

Seeking mojo. If I have it, I don't know.
Walking real slow. Looking closely, still no show.
So fast I'll go. Racing wildly, look out, snow!
Fell down you know. Mojo not me, just bozo.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

\ FAN-tod \
noun;
1.
A state of extreme nervousness or restlessness (usually expressed in the plural.)
2.
A sudden outpouring of anger, outrage, or a similar intense emotion.

Quotes:
"Well, as your grandmother says, there's no use getting in a fantod about it," my mother said. "
-- Margaret Laurence, Isabel Huggan, A bird in the house

Such a fantod over what was, essentially, a pimple on Nanny's posterior.
-- Claire Browning, "Pot luck dinner: New Zealand's food mystery," Pundit, July 2010)

Origin:
Fantod is of obscure origin, apparently a derivation from fantique which is in turn a possible alteration of fantigue , a combination of "fantasy" and "fatigue."

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

.

Maybe my grandpa coined the word fantod in reverse. He loved movies in Todd-AO format.
After seeing , he used to say he was a todfan.




made him gush about her and it confirmed his todfannishness no end. I must admit, I'd love to take her to a candle-lit dinner.



When was announced in the news, he was in all fantods, having to wait for it to be featured in Belgium.



I already have the flying men on DVD. I can heartily recommend it. I think I'll soon order the other two movies too.

[voralfred]

Consiering anions are attracted to the anode, and cations to the cathode, I was expecting a fantode to a metallic eletrode to which fans are attracted.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

[voralfred]

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

.

\ JEER-uhnt \
noun;
1.
A ruler or manager.

Quotes:
And to cap everything he had to call the gerent over, or whatever the man was, to complain glowering about this champagne, was it ullaged or what? and as the fellow scuttled off for a fresh bottle, snapped after him "Not even your bar's the same!" - this once familiar room changed now as those redecorated hearts; all he'd known vanishing; so that what was there that once had been and still was.
-- William Mode Spackman, An Armful of Warm Girl

With wind speeds of at least 20 knots to power your kites or fill your sails, Boracay's sleepy Bulabog Beach, is the gerent of gust.
-- "Best Beaches, Philippines," E-zine Diary (blog), April 2009.

Origin:
Gerent is an English adaptation of the Latin verb gerere , "to manage or conduct."

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

The only thing I can think of concerning this WotD, is the pronunciation. It sounds too much like "Gee, runt!".

In one of the anecdotes about my grandma, she yelled it after the tramp who called her fur coat a "portable bivouac", but that was just fictional kidding, you know?

But in French and Flemish, a "gérant" is the equivalent of "gerent", i.e. a kind of local CEO of a shop, department store, supermarket, in other words, the on-site business manager/franchise holder.

So "gerent", when said by shareholders is the designation for the person to blame, by customers is the person to complain to, and by lower rank employees is the person to ask for a raise or is an insult meaning "idiot".

Though in forums "gerent" is simply the administrator with all of the meanings listed above combined.

I found no good image for "gerent", but here's one for "Gee, runt".

[voralfred]

It is all nice and good for the two of us, EPS, to discuss the various merits of the English spelling of gerent anf the common French and Flemish (is it also the same in Netherlands Dutch?) of gérant, and thus develop the new sciences of gerentology and gérantologie. Unfortunately, soon we'll both be more in need of a gerntologist (gérntologue in French)

[Algot Runeman]

Voralfred, E.P.S., Which of you wants to claim the status of gerent in this WotD?

In either event, I'll refrain from casting any aspersions in either direction. I'll also be totally content to comment carelessly from the preferred position of plebeian, pedestrian purveyor of prosaic praise for your prowess.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

\ ab-skwoch-uh-leyt \

verb;
1.
To flee; abscond.


Quotes:
"You'd thank me to ' absquatulate ,' as the Yankees say,"interrupts she, laughing and showing the sweetest, shortest, whitest little set of teeth that ever set dentist at defiance. "Well, I will in a minute; but' I have an errand unto thee. oh, captain.'"
-- Rhoda Broughton, Cometh up as a flower: an autobiography

Predictably, he is rejected by the people and threats are made on his life (Jeremiah is probably in prison at this time) so the Lord commands him to take his family and absquatulate into the desert.
-- "A Book of Mormon Synopsis: The Small Plates," What Mormons Believe blog, January 2009.

We all know that there is nothing so easy to macerate, percolate, absquatulate and totally busticate as the Ten Commandments.
-- The Pharmaceutical Era (newspaper), 1908.

Origin:
Absquatulate is an example of a pseudo-Latinism, which combines Latin roots to form a new word. This was a 19th century linguistic trend in various parts of the United States.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

.

After the dentist had explained about mandibular impaction, anesthesia, exfoliating, incising, separating or fracturing, curettage, irrigation, suction, alveoloplasty, partial hemostasis, bone substitute packing, suturing and trismus, in short a lower molar extraction, he proposed to proceed immediately. But my grandpa thought "You're " and said, "I'll think about it! But right now I'll absquatulate!" and he did.

Sensitive or squeamish readers should NOT unhide the spoiler, and certainly NOT click on the image.
For the braver ones, the link leads to a nice educational site about various dental procedures.


Edit: spelling correction

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

[voralfred]

[voralfred]

Concerning your post further above, despite your warning, I did not only unhide the spoiler, but took the foolhardy step to click on the image. Then of course, I had to absquatulate within a couple of seconds.
You put that trap knowing I'd fall into it, just so I could use this word, didn't you?

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

\ KOH-ahn \
noun;
1.
A nonsensical or paradoxical question to a student for which an answer is demanded, the stress of meditation on the question often being illuminating.

Quotes:
"All in One Day" is a hip shaking exercise in classic rock while the beautifully arranged "Holy," is a spare waltz for guitar and violin that closes this completely satisfying disc with a classic country music koan : "How do you sleep at night when your baby's aching?"
-- Chris Davis, "Sound Advice: Holly & the Heathens at the Hi-Tone," Memphis Flyer, July 2010.

At that time I believed my affective controls were no longer intact, but now I present this to you as a more cogent question than it might at first appear, a kind of koan of the period.
-- Joan Didion, The white album

Origin:
Koan is Japanese, ko "public" and -an , "matter for thought." It enters English through Zen Buddhism before achieving a more general sense.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

.

All I could reply to a koan is .

Instead of getting a koan, I would by far prefer a much more melodious conundrum, and still be able to reply with .

[Algot Runeman]

Koan of the Day: "How does one compose a reasonable post when the WotD is koan?"

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

[voralfred]

EPS asked "Why?"
Voralfred answered "Here! But when?"
Hearing this, Algot was illuminated.